TRIGGER WARNINGS ALL UP IN HERE, for rape and abortion and infuriating fuckwittery
Okay, forget everything I have ever complained about or told you to do, politically. Forget if you don’t read political posts. Stop. WATCH/READ THIS RIGHT NOW.
For those of you who for some reason cannot or do not want to watch the video, allow me to summarize. Right now there is a law that has passed the Virginia legislature that would mandate a trans-vaginal ultrasound for anyone seeking an abortion. No exceptions.
Now that in and of itself does not sound so scary, right? Wrong. A trans-vaginal ultrasound is not a normal type of ultrasound. It is an ultrasound that is taken by sticking a probe into a woman’s vagina. And it is completely and totally medically unnecessary. The Republican legislators who have passed this bill admit to it being completely medically unnecessary. It exists for the sole purpose of discouraging women from getting abortions.
I honestly could care less what your personal views on abortion are, but here’s something we have to get straight right now: no matter how you feel about abortion or why, this is government-mandated rape. Think I’m exaggerating? Let’s look at how rape is defined by the federal government of the United States of America:
“The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
Let’s re-iterate here: there are no exceptions. It doesn’t matter if you are getting an abortion one week or eight months into your pregnancy. You will be forcibly probed. It doesn’t matter if you are aborting for personal reasons or because it’s a medical necessity for either your safety or the safety of your child. You will be forcibly probed. It doesn’t matter if you are fourteen or forty. You will be forcibly probed. It does not matter if your child is the product of incest or even the product of rape. You will be forcibly probed.
Now, I don’t live or vote in Virginia. Technically, there is nothing I can do about this. But currently this bill is on the way to the governor’s desk, and the only hope there is of it not becoming law is if Virginia citizens contact the Governor and tell him about their opposition to him signing this into law. (Contact information is here. Please note that calling generally carries more weight than e-mailing does.)
Please re-blog this story. E-mail it to everyone you know. Tell them to e-mail it to everyone they know. Eventually, some of these people we all know should be from Virginia, and if you are from Virginia, you need to let your voice be heard now. Regardless of if you think life begins at conception, there is no justification, ever, for the government mandating the rape of women.
As sombody who has had one of these for a valid medical reason, I find this APPALLING. Speaking only from personal experience, it was invasive and uncomfortable on more than just a physical level. This is government sanctioned rape, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
WRITE THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA TO OPPOSE THE BILL
(who has links on where to write to the VA Senate? The bill goes to them next.)
Here’s my letter (I’m so angry I didn’t even proofread it! FUCK YES, RESPONSE REQUIRED, VIRGINIA):
The FBI’s recent revision of the Unified Crime Reporting definition of rape is: “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
The Virginia House of Delegates just voted to do just that to any pregnant woman, in any case in which abortion is requested or medically necessary. There is no provision for refusing it. There is no alternative. The Virginia House of Delegats has voted to make rape MANDATORY.
I don’t care where you fall on the issue of abortion, or when life begins, or when consciousness begins. I do care that as the governor of Virginia you stop hiding behind promises of “legal review” and refuse to sign any such bill if by some stroke of insanity it passes the Senate as well.
Unless you want your state to be the first to make rape legal and state-sanctioned?
“Fuck you” doesn’t even begin to cover my feelings on this front.
Say What Now of the Day: In today’s edition of Santorum Santorum Says: Rape victims who get pregnant “have to make the best out of a bad situation.”
(Also: “I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you.”)
[think.]
WHAT
WHAT
WHAT
WHAT THE FUCK I AM SO FUCKING ENRAGED BY THIS THAT I NEED TO FUCKING STEP AWAY FROM THE FUCKING COMPUTER OH MY FUCKING FUCK AKSJFDKSDJFNSDLKFJDFHS
